Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) launched a directed investigation into the Maine Department of Education for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA). This investigation comes amid reports that dozens of Maine school districts are violating or misusing FERPA by maintaining policies that infringe on parents’ rights. The districts’ policies allegedly allow for schools to create “gender plans” supporting a student’s “transgender identity” and then claim those plans are not education records under FERPA and therefore not available to parents.
This action, alongside SPPO’s investigation initiated yesterday into the California Department of Education, is in furtherance of U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s directives to strengthen FERPA enforcement by taking action against schools misusing FERPA and clearing the backlog of complaints submitted to SPPO that accumulated under the Biden Administration.
“Parents and guardians have the right to access their child’s education records to guide and safeguard their child’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Any policy to the contrary is both illegal and immoral,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with several young people who shared their detransitioning stories. It is deeply concerning to hear that teachers and school counselors in Maine are reportedly encouraging and helping students to undergo so-called ‘gender transitions’ while keeping parents in the dark. The Trump Administration will enforce all federal laws to safeguard students and families.”
“Under the previous Administration, we were fighting to protect our children from irreversible ‘sex changes’ - a path too often facilitated by school personnel who we entrusted with our children. We are proud to stand with President Trump and Secretary McMahon to hold school districts accountable and ensure no child is socially transitioned behind parent's backs by teachers or administrators,” said Parents Defending Education Founder and President Nicole Neily.
Background:
FERPA is a federal privacy law enforced by the Department's SPPO. FERPA gives parents the right to access their children’s education records, the right to request record corrections or amendments, and the right to control (with important exceptions) disclosure of personally identifiable information in education records. School’s policies which instruct teachers, counselors, and other employees to hide a child’s “gender transition” records from parents infringe on parents’ rights under FERPA.
State laws do not override federal laws, and educational entities receiving federal funding are subject to FERPA and its implementing regulations. Violation of FERPA can result in termination of an educational entity’s federal funding.